Street-indicator.



W. 0. BRIDGES. I STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 10. 1910.

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

3 SHEETS-$HEET 1.

W. G. BRIDGES.

STREET INDICATOR.

' APPLICATION FILED DEG.10, 1910. 1,018,693.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE. NEXT STREET 1s 529 w w- I wm y x\ wmwow 00 Q A W. O. BRIDGES. STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED B11010 1910. 1,018,693. Patented Feb.27, 1912.

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awueutoz I abl omeq g UNITED. STATES M WILLIAM C. BRIDGES, OF WAPELLO,

IOWA.

STREET-INDICATOR.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 10, 1910. Serial No. 596,536.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM C. BRIDGES, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vapello, in the county of Louisa and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements -in Street-Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in street and station indicators for street or othercars, more particularly to electrically operated cars employing the overhead trolley system, and has for one of its objects to provide a simply constructed device of this character in which the trolley pole is utilized to support a tripping mechanism through which motion is imparted to a flexible belt bearing the names of the streets or stations in successive order.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device having a flexible belt carrying the names of the streets or stations in successive order with simply constructed reversing mechanism which is operative independently of'the tripping mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide' a device of this character in which a plurality of frictionally controlled devices are employed to receive the belt carrying I the street or station bearing names and by which the tension is automatically. maintained. I) I 'With these and othe objects in view the invention consists in the novel features of construction herein shown and described, and then specifically pointed out in the claims, and in the drawings illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention Figure .1 is a side elevation of a portion of a'trolley car together with the trolley pole and a portion of the conductor wire, with the improved device applied and partly in section. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the casing containing the indicating mechanism. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the indicating mechanism partly in section. Fig. A} is a side elevation of the indicating mechanism, on

Figs. 2 and 3. Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged details illustrating the operation of-the belt moving mechanism. Fig. 7 is a-perspective detail of one of the reversible pawls. Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional detail of-one of the winding drums. Fig. 9 is a sectional detail, on the line 99 of Fig. 8. Fig. .10 is a perspective detail illustrating the construction of tripping mechanism.

the same scale asy".

gmember operating .gdrum flange 32.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

The improved device may be adapted without material structural changes tot-rolley cars of various constructions, but for the purpose of illustration is shown applied to a conventional car a portion of which is shown at 10 with the trolley pole at 11, the

trolley wheel at 12, the conductor wire at 13 and one of the trolley wire hangers at 14.

Mounted in the car 10 at any convenient point is a casing 15 having a glass covered opening 16 so located as to be in plain view by the passengers, and through which the street or station names can be read. Mounted for rotation in the casing 15 is a main shaft 17 carrying a relatively large drum 18. Connected to .one of the walls of the casing 15 are two split sockets, one shown at 19, the-sockets being provided respectively with clamp bolts 21. The split sockets support stub shafts 23 projecting inwardly, and connected to the casing 15 at the side opposite to the split sockets are other sockets 25-26 in which other stub shafts 27.28 are supported, one of the stub shafts 23 and 27 being in alinement and the other stub shafts 23 and the stub shaft 28 being in alinement transversely of the cas end flanges 31, while the drum 30 is provided with similar end flanges 32. i

Mounted for rotation upon the stub shaft I27 .is a ratchet wheel 35 having a flange 36 corresponding to the end flange 31 of the drum 29, and provided with a yieldable disk such as hard paper, represented at 37, for hearing against the drum flange 31, while hestub shaft 28 is provided with a. similar chet 38, flange 39 and yieldable friction in connection with the Mounted for rotation upon the stub shaft 27 is a chain 'wheel 41 carrying a pawl 42 which engages the ratchet 35,

: While a similar chain Wheel 43 is mounted for rotation upon the stub shaft 28 'vided with a pawl ratchet 38.

and pro-. 44 for engaging the Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

shaft 23 and the stub shaft 28. The drum I "'29 is provided with V spectively wheel 47-and connected by an endless chain 48 with the chain wheels 41-43.

'. the casing 15 above the drum 18 is a vertiwheel from opposite sides.

and the pawls 42-44 are reversely arranged,

drums. I

placed in successive order upon the belt and limiting the downward movement.

wheel 58, and

' toswing intermediate their ends with the 2, as a guideto the Sw n tingly connected to the sleeve 69 and oiaeae The stub shafts 2728 are provided rewith springs 46-- which bear against the. chain wheels 41 43 and maintain the yieldable members 37in constant engagement with the drum flanges 31 and Connected to the shaft 17 is a chain pull rod 74 is ,swin'gingly connected to the rod 54 and the sleeve. 71. I

Connected to the trolley pole 11 is a split sleeve 75 having an arm 76 and adjustable upon the pole by clamp screws. Swingmg upon the arm 76 is a trip lever 77, and connected to the trip lever is a pull cord or It Wlll be noted-that the ratchets 35-38 thetrolley pole and over guide pulleys 80 upon the car 10 to the rod 54, as shown. spring 87 is arranged to yieldably maintain the lever 77 in position so that it will not be brokenwhen the car runs backward.

Connected to the conductor wire at predetermined points, for instance between the streets or stations, are stationary trip stops 81 with which the trip lever 77 engages and'by which it is actuated. 'lhe trip stop may be connected to any convenient portion of the trolley wire supports, but for the purpose of illustration 1s shown connected by an arm t-ionalsupports 14.

signal device is emifioyed in the improved device and arranged to be sounded each time that the drum 18 is actuated, and comprises striker members 82 connected to the object to be hereafter explained.

A belt 49 of canvas or other suitable material is connected at its ends to the drums 29-3O and wound from one to the other over the larger drum 18. 'At itsvedges the belt 49 is provided with enlarged bindings 5O of leather or the like, and provided with spaced apertures to engage over pins 52 in the ends of the larger drum 18 so that the belt willnot slip when running over the "The names of the streets or stations are are. readable through the opening 16, as the elt and drums are operated. Connected to cal bearing 53 through which" a rod 54 is slidably disposed, the rod being provided with a stop collar 55 above the bearing and a spring 56 below the bearing, the spring operating to maintain the rod yieldably in. its downward position and the stop collar Thestop collar 55 is adjustable upon therod 54 by means of a set screw 57, asshown. Another stop collar 85 is'adjustably coupled to the rod 54 by a set screw 86 to limit the upward movement.

' Connected to the shaft 17 is a toothed swinging upon the shaft are two arms 59-6(), the arm 59 having a swinging pawl 61 and arm 59, and is provided with a hammer 88 at the outer end, and a gong 84 is located in thetpath otlqthe hammer, so that the gong will be sounded every time that the rod 54 is operated by the trip devices. u

By arranging the sleeves 69 and 71' for adjustment upon the arms 59-60; the sleeve 55 for adjustment upon the rod 54.; and the sleeve 75 for adjustment upon the trolley 1n unison and adjusted to compensate for wear or other misadjustments. The casing 15 will be preferably provided with the words The next street (or station) is above the opening 16, as shown in Fig.

assengers.

All of the parts oft t-hebelt mechanism are concealed and protected within the casing 15 except a portion'oit' the rod 54 and its stop co ar 55. v

With a device thus constructed the operation is as follows, Assuming that the car is at one end of its trip with the belt 49 unwound from one of the winding drums and wound uponthe other, the name of the first street-or station beyond the starting point will appear opposite the opening 16, in the casing 15. he'conductor then actuates the pull cord or cable 65 or 66 to dispose the pawl 61 or 62 as the case may be, in position to cause the drum 18 to b proper direction to wind empty winding drum and to incidentally unwind it from the full drum. As the car moves over the track and the trolley pole travels along the conductor wire 13, the tri lever 77 will strike the first trip stop 81 and upper ends arranged to engage the toothed The pawl 61 is connected above its pivot to the pawl 62 beguide pulleys 6768 to a point to the conductor orother oflicial. arrangement it will be obvious that thepawls 61-62 may be alternatively engaged with the toothed wheel 58 to reverse the direction of motion of the shaft 17 and the belt 49, as hereafter more fully explained.

Slidably engaging the arm 59 is a sleeve 69 and adjustable thereon by a-set screw 70, while a similar sleeve 71 is adjustably mounted oven the arm 60 y a set "screw 72. the r d 54 is a pull rod 73, while a similar pole 11, the parts may be caused to operate wire 78 which leads through guides 79 u'pon supports 8 2 to'one of the convenone of the arms 59 or 60, for instance to the cause the drum 18 to be rotated the distance of. one of the teeth of the wheel 58 to bring the name of the next street or station into view through the window 16, and at the same time sound the signal gong 84. Then as the car proceeds the belt 49 is moved intermittently as the trip lever 77 successively engages the trip stops, as will be obvious."

It will be understood that one of the pawls 61 or 62, and one of the pawls 42 or 44 car in one direction, and the other pawls remain idle during the movement in the opposite direction.

sthe belt 49 is wound intermittently upon one winding drum and unwound from the other winding drum during the operation of the device, one drum is constantly increased and the other drum is constantly decreased in size and with corresponding change in peripheralspeed, hence the necessity for the arrangement of the frictional members between the drums and the ratchets, as by this means an efiectual compensating mechanism is produced whereby the proper tension upon the belt is assured. The belt is caused to move exactly the same distance at each stroke of the rod 54 by reason of the coaction of the apertured bindings 50 and the pins 52, while a uniform and constant tension is produced upon' the belt by the novel frictional mechanism above described. This is an important feature of the improved ap aratus and adds materially to its value an etficiency.

A short pull rope 88 is connected to the A main pull line 7 8 to enable the conductor to manipulate the indicator device independently of the trolley mechanism when .required, as for instance if the car is backed up, to readjust the indicator device and set the name belt in proper position.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. In a street and station indicator, an-

operating drum, winding drums, a belt havsides, a cord connecting remains idle dur1ng the movement of the frictionally engaging the same,

in ne ted to said winding drums and bearing over said operating drum, a rotatable member for each of said winding drums and frictionally engaging the same, means for rotating the rotatable member, a toothed wheel rotative with said operating drum, two pivoted arms, a pawl pivoted intermediate its ends to each of said arms and adapted to engage said wheel from opposlte one of said pawls above its pivot to the other pawl below its pivot, and another cord connecting said first mentioned pawl below its pivot with the other pawl ber connected to each of said cor 2. In a street and station indicator, an inclosing casing, tation in said casing, two.- winding drums mounted for rotationin said casing, a belt having the names of streets or stations and connected to said winding drums and hearing over said operatingdrum, a rotatable member for each of said winding drums and means for rotating the rotatable member, a toothed wheel rotative with said operating drum, two pivoted arms, a pawl pivoted intermediate its ends to each of said arms and. adiapted to engage said wheel from opposite s1 es above its pivot to the other pawl below its pivot, another cord connecting. said first other pawl above its pivot, a spring-com above its pivot, and a dpull meman operating drum for ro-' names of the streets or stations and cona cord connecting one of said pawls mentioned pawl below its pivot with the trolled rod carried by said casing, independent connecting members between said s ringcbntrolled rod and said arms, a pul cord connected to said spring-controlled rod, and 3 other pull cords connected respectively to said pawl-connecting cords.

In testimon whereof, I afiix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

WILLIAM C. BRIDGES.- [L. s.] Witnesses: j

RAYM L. Dawson,

W. L. Pmmms. 1

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Batents, Washington, D. G. 

